Hollywood & Crime - Introducing: Death of a Starlet

Episode Date: September 12, 2024

Nineteen eighty was going to be Dorothy Stratten’s year. Playboy’s Hugh Hefner thought it might even be her decade. She was just 20 years old, the girl next door with the shy smile and whispery voice who didn’t know her own beauty. But to the men in her life -- magazine mogul Hugh Hefner, director Peter Bogdanovich, and small time hustler Paul Snider -- Dorothy represented the promise of better things -- a centerfold on her way to movie stardom, a muse who could help revive a dying career, and a ticket to the Hollywood dream.  But who was Dorothy really? And how did her rise to fame ultimately lead to her death? This is a six-part series about love, sex and murder in 1970s Hollywood when glitter pants and roller skates were all the rage, and the Playboy mansion hosted the biggest party in town.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

I got a $65,000 Russian Sable fur coat and a $25,000 check. Dorothy Stratton was a rising star. She was blonde and beautiful, a shy girl with a big heart who worked at the Dairy Queen. Until she was plucked from obscurity and put on the cover of Playboy magazine. I'm sure that this has been many a girl's dream, and it's been mine. From centerfold to movie roles,

Anne, she was in love, on the way to a Hollywood ending. And then it all went terribly wrong. A beautiful young woman living what was described as a Hollywood fairy tale. A fairy tale that always had happy endings. 1980, playmate of the year, has been found shot to death, killed apparently by her estranged husband. May have shot his wife because he was despondent over the breakup of their marriage. Marilyn Monroe called Hollywood a place where they'll pay you $1,000 for a kiss and 50 cents for your soul. Dorothy Stratton would find that out firsthand. Playboy founder Hugh Hefner thought Dorothy was going to be his breakout star.

Legendary director Peter Bogdanovich saw her as his muse. And her small-time hustler boyfriend from home thought Dorothy was his ticket to the big time. But who was Dorothy, really? And who were these three men who fought for her heart? This is a six-part series about love, sex, and murder in 1970s Hollywood, where temptation lurks around every corner and nothing is what it seems. Surrounded as you are in the entertainment and magazine business by so many con men, isn't it awfully hard to live a normal life now? Well, what is a normal life?

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